


The Chippewa Colorless

by Tikor



Category: RWBY
Genre: Fanfiction, Gen, Monologue, World of Remnant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 17:02:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10223006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tikor/pseuds/Tikor
Summary: A fanfiction in the world of remnant style. To be read in Qrow's voice.





	

The Grimm are known to feed off of negative emotions. They get stronger when people fear, hate, panic, and despair. Some among the hunters believed that the metaphor of feeding was no metaphor at all. That their constant murderous tendencies were how they sustained themselves, and how they reproduced. If only they could stop those negative emotions from occurring, then they'd starve the Grimm to a withering death. Or, at least on a small scale, learning to fight without fear would be advantageous, so that their opponents would not feed off of the emotions of combat and become stronger right when things went bad. But no one knew exactly where the line was for what emotions empowered and provoked the Grimm. To be sure, these dedicated hunters stripped all emotions from their lives, as best they could.

These hunters called themselves the Chippewa. Other hunters of the time were not nearly as effective at hunting Grimm. This humble historian wonders if the same unfavorable comparison would be made to modern day hunters. Theirs was a reputation for fearlessness in the face of the Grim. It was their identity. Their stoic work against the Grimm brought them victory after victory. With success their public appearances, their philosophy and outlook, spread. They recruited the best up and coming combat recruits. They enjoyed the most financial support from the kingdoms, more than any of the other hunter enclaves. They were beloved by the people.

But the people they swore to protect never understood them. The general public could not fathom giving up their families, their worldly possessions, their desires, and dedicating themselves fully to hunting Grimm. Of course, even the Chippewa didn't want that outcome, for the next generation had to come from somewhere other than celibate warrior-monks. But as the Chippewa grew in power, more and more of secular life was drawn into their orbit. 

The Grimm, for the first time in countless generations, were beaten back. Territories once thought lost forever were reclaimed. Peace reigned, and the population soared. 

The Chippewa, buoyed by these positive results, used a fraction of their power to sway one of the kingdoms, the one we now call Atlas, to take things a few steps further in the name of wiping out the Grimm once and for all. A raft of decrees were issues by the monarch forbidding many freedoms the people once enjoyed, common recreations such as sports gatherings and music concerts, the right to choose their occupation so that every capable fighter with a knack for controlling their emotions could be recruited as a hunter for the final push, even the color of their clothing and houses were to be selected from only white, gray and black. Mandatory stoicism classes were instituted, with subsidies going to the most accomplished stoics. This was the start of the colorless period. 

The people were divided. On the one hand, what wouldn't they do to end the menace of the Grimm? Could they look their children in the eyes and say to them, 'The reason you fear them still is because I wanted a frilly pink dress or a shiny red tie? The reason your brother was eaten by the Grimm was because of my fancy blue shoes I wore to see my favorite band?' On the other hand, many doubted that the Grimm could be truly killed as a species. Weakened, sure. Pushed from this territory or that? Absolutely. Prevented from getting out of hand with well trained fighters and common sacrifice? Yes. But put down forever? No, they didn't believe it. And when would the experiment end if it didn't work? Would they suffer the monarch's oppression forever? Every other hunter society pointed out the clear benefit to aura that expressing your identity produced - semblances more often found and mastered, reserves of Aura springing forth and defying measurement when hunters reported 'being themselves'. Yet others cared nothing for the success of the project, and vainly refused to comply, with no argument other than their desires. And as always there were the sheep who complied without question. But enough of a majority for the new measures took hold in the Colorless kingdom that they did not challenge their monarch from within. Harsh punishments were doled out to the noncompliant as quietly as possible. But not quietly enough.

The other kingdoms saw what the colorless kingdom had become, and they saw Chippewa stations everywhere within their borders. What was once a reassurance against the Grimm now felt like a threat to their liberty. So they moved to expel them. The Chippewa, however, were by this time the most fearless warriors in the world. They did not care for their own survival, only that of the people they protected. They faced Grimm daily. A little political pressure didn't scare them. They would not abandon their posts to let the Grimm ravage those they protected, and in their insufficiently suppressed pride they trusted no one else to do the job better.

No one knows who broke the standoff by firing the first shot. But at the end of the year 507, on New Year's Eve, a Chippewa outpost was burned to the ground in the city of Vale. In response, the Chippewa allowed no one in or out of the city of Vale into the wider kingdom as they conducted their investigation. Diplomatic ties between Vale and the Chippewa broke immediately. Vale was outraged at the unauthorized quarantine. The Chippewa would not back down. When Vale used their army to try and run the blockade, the Chippewa called to Atlas for help, and they provided it. This invasion sparked similar incidents between the Chippewa and the nations we now call Vacuo and Mistral. Atlas ultimately sent troops to the Chippewa's aid in all three other kingdoms.

The Grimm came roaring back. Millions died. The Chippewa, even with their Atlesian allies, even with their vast resources and their elite fighters, could not subdue the entire world and the Grimm at the same time. Nearly all of them died trying. And thus the colorless period ended. We are the victors, we write the history, and we say that it is right to name our children after colors. But we also are the ones living surrounded by Grimm, fearing them, feeding them. Who is to say we chose the better path?


End file.
